


You Bring Me Home

by isonala



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, References to Canon, hey look i spelled victor with a 'c' this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-18 09:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11288472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isonala/pseuds/isonala
Summary: Victor Nikiforov is a successful novelist in a bit of a creative slump. Yuuri (an aspiring writer and secretly Victor’s biggest fan) works at a bookstore that Victor sometimes frequents.Yuuri starts finding notes from a “secret admirer” tucked into books on the store shelves. Who might they be from?(aka the fic in which Victor basically writes a self-insert to cope with his feelings for the cute bookseller, and also may or may not be leaving notes for him too)Russian





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> it's been so fun writing this as part of the[ big bang](http://yurionicebigbang.tumblr.com) and i really hope you like reading it!  
> huge thanks to my amazing beta,[ aridette](http://aridette.tumblr.com), who has honestly made this fic so much more polished and actually readable.  
> and of course, to my partner[ kayqin who has drawn absolutely adorable and stunning art as a companion to this fic](http://kayqin.tumblr.com/post/162210597123/writersau-victor-nikiforov-is-a-successful) , it's been so lovely to work with you!  
> title from [sweet creature](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uD6s-X3590)  
> will be updated every 3 days, there are 4 (prewritten) chapters in total!
> 
> now with a[ Russian ](https://ficbook.net/readfic/6267012/16040565)translation thanks to the lovely Devnelf!

Victor has been walking for about three hours when he realises he’s been pacing around the same two blocks over and over, and the store owners on the street are looking at him a little bit strangely when he passes the front of their stores for the seventh time.  
He stops in the middle of a step and nearly loses his balance.  
“What the fuck am I doing,” he says to no one in particular. Rubbing his face, he sits down heavily on a conveniently placed bench. The wood is wet - Victor immediately feels cold dampness seeping into the back of his sweatpants and his shirt. He groans and flings his arm over his eyes dramatically. “Fuck me,” he mumbles. “What am I going to do?”  
He had thought going for a quick walk would help clear his mind despite the overcast day and maybe, finally, he would be able to get some ideas for the book draft that was due in exactly 5 days and 3 hours. Yakov would probably start crying if Victor asked for a third extension in a row.  
There’s no way I’m going to be able to finish my draft by next week, Victor thinks. Yakov is not going to be happy.

Suddenly, the clouds part and the glint of sunlight reflecting off the glass of the storefront opposite him catches his attention. Victor sits up, ignoring the dampness making his clothes stick to his skin and squints his eyes as he peers at the opposite store. It’s a small but homely looking bookstore. The outside looks like it has seen better days - the paint is chipped and the letters ‘Hasetsu Bookstore’ are peeling a little around the edges, but it gives the store a sort of perennial feel to it. It looks like the kind of bookstore that would have a vast assortment of books that no one’s ever heard of, cluttered but cosy. The kind that would be warm and dry even if it was storming outside.  
On a whim, Victor decides to go inside.

The bell chimes endearingly as he pushes open the door. He looks around - the warmly-lit interior is more spacious than it looked from the outside, the store and its labyrinth of bookshelves deeper than he originally thought. The floor is wooden lacquer and covered in a patterned rug. But the most eye-catching feature is the floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves lining the walls, the books themselves sorted seemingly randomly but on closer inspection is grouped neatly first by genre and then author. An ornate chandelier hangs from the ceiling, and there are small velvet chairs dotted around. There seems to be no one behind the counter at the back of the store.  
“Hello?” Victor calls quietly.  
He hears a rustling noise, then a series of loud knocks and bangs. A rumpled head pops up from behind a bookshelf. “Hello, welcome to Hasetsu bookstore! How may I help?” the person says louder than necessary, hurriedly righting his crooked glasses. 

Victor gapes at him.  
Holy fuck who is this angel oh my God oh mY GOD he can totally tell I’m staring can’t he quick say something cool victor hURRY-  
“Uh,” Victor says cleverly. His inner self screams in anguish.  
The adorable staff member blinks, smiling uncertainly, and oh, Victor is so fucking screwed.

“Do you-”  
“Um, do you have any books on ice-skating?” Victor blurts, interrupting him mid-sentence.  
The cute worker looks him up and down. “You don’t look like an ice-skater,” he says, smiling shyly, and Victor’s face is on fire and his hands are shaking but it’s fine, everything is fine, he just really wants to find out this person’s name, and hold his hand, and maybe marry him, yes, Victor is FINE. 

“Ha,” says Victor weakly. “It’s for, um, research. Y-yeah.” 

The staff member smiles again, this time with a little and Victor feels short of breath. He nervously runs his fingers through his hair as the worker turns around and starts to walk to the back of the store. Victor doesn’t mean to - he really doesn’t - but he can’t help noticing the worker’s amazing ass as he walks, and now Victor really needs to stop because he is quickly crossing into the creepy pervert territory. 

He turns around and Victor’s eyes snap back up to his face, watches the way he brushes back his bangs from his face, and he completely misses what the worker says. 

“Sorry, what did you say?” 

The staff member repeats his words patiently. “We’ve only got a couple of ice-skating books, but if you needed any more I could order them for you?” 

Victor’s saying yes before he even finishes his sentence. Any excuse to come back, he thinks.  
The staff member seems to be suppressing a grin as he scans the bookshelves. Finding what he’s looking for, he bends over to get a small stool and Victor averts his eyes from his ass because goddamnit Victor has self-control and can and will restrain himself. He steps onto the stool and reaches up, Victor tries to distract himself from the small strip of skin revealed above his waistband by saying impulsively, “What’s your name?” 

The worker reaches up on his tiptoes and manages to snag a few books with the tip of his fingers before replying, and there’s a light flush across his cheeks that Victor thinks he could write a sonnet about.  
“Yuuri,” he says.  
Victor’s smile spreads uncontainably across his face. “Yuuri,” he repeats, dragging out the vowels, and it rolls so, so nicely off his tongue. “I’m Victor.”

“Nice to meet you, Victor.” Yuuri steps off the stool and hands the two books to Victor, who accepts them but doesn’t move. He looks at the title of the book on top - ‘Ice-Skating for beginners’. He glances back up at Yuuri’s hopeful expression.  
“What do you think?”  
Viktor swallows. “They’re perfect, thank you,” he says, plastering on a grin and God, he is so screwed.

“Glad I could help! Let me know if you need anything else,” Yuuri tells him, a pleased expression on his face as he goes back to his original task. He picks up where he left off, reshelving books from a box.

Victor watches him disappear out of sight behind a bookshelf. The image of Yuuri lingers in his head, and suddenly he remembers the non-existent book that he has to conjure up for Yakov in less than a week. He nearly loses his grip on the books as he gets lost in his thoughts and fumbles with little grace so as not to drop them.  
The title of the first book catches his eye again. Ice skating for beginners.  
Staring at the cover, an idea starts to form in his mind. Something about an ice-skater close to giving up on his career. An amateur coach. The glint of shiny medals and breath fogging up in a cold rink, the bright cheers of an unseen audience and the scrape of blades against ice.  
Victor thinks that he knows what his next book is going to be about. 

\---

As Yuuri’s locking up for the night, he goes to check the shelves one last time and that’s when he sees the note. It’s sticking out from the bottom of a bookshelf, pinned by a stack of poetry books. He slides it out from underneath and flattens it. It’s a crumpled receipt for - Yuuri squints - four packets of dog treats. He turns it around, and there’s something scrawled on the back. 

Are you a library book? Because I can’t stop checking you out.

Yuuri covers his mouth as a giggle rises up in his throat. A blush spreads over his face immediately, and he glances around even though he know’s there’s no one else in the store. He looks at the bookshelf he found the note on but there’s nothing else other than the smooth spines of poetry collections. Carefully, he folds up the receipt and puts it in between the pages of the journal in his bag. He can’t stop grinning as he exits the store, cheeks still pink.


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is!! enjoy the second chapter :)

Yuuri has never been more ready to go home in years. It’s nearing the last few hours of his shift and as he looks at the slow dying of the light outside the store, all he can think about is curling up in a fetal position in his bed. Maybe a bowl of ice cream. And a glass of wine, or three. 

He slumps down in his seat behind the counter. There weren’t any new shipments of books to be shelved, and the store has been unusually empty for a weekday afternoon.  
Over the years, Hasetsu Bookstore had garnered a reputation for having a wide selection of books and since it was located on quite a popular road for pedestrians - people often popped into the store for a little look around and ended up leaving with a whole bag of books. Especially after that one critic, Chris Something-or-other had published that review praising the ‘atmosphere’, sales had skyrocketed.  
Although, Yuuri supposed, the increase in popularity came with its own downsides. Their usual worker, Hisashi, had gone off to university last month and his father hadn’t had time to recruit new staff. Conveniently, Yuuri had just graduated and gotten his Bachelor’s degree. So Yuuri’s father had asked him to help out at the bookstore, a job he hadn’t done since high school. “You can put that finance degree to good use, Yuuri!” His father had laughed.  
“How does finance have anything to do with selling books?” Yuuri had protested, but it had gone ignored. 

Still, it isn’t all that bad. In between serving customers, Yuuri has time to sit down and actually write.  
His journal is nearly full - he’ll have to get another one soon. He smiles a little at the thought.

The bell rings, indicating a customer entering, and interrupting his musings. Yuuri looks up and sees a fairly tall man with an unusual shade of silver hair come into the store. He instantly registers that it’s the same ditzy customer as yesterday. The one who had asked for the ice-skating books.  
Instead of the ratty sweatpants he was wearing then, he is now dressed in tight jeans and an expensive looking shirt.  
The man - Yuuri has completely forgotten his name - struts up to him and lays a hand on the counter as he flicks the hair out of his eyes, and if Yuuri didn’t know better he could almost swear that the customer was flirting with him. He stifles the awkward blush he feels rising to his face and greets the customer with the default phrase drilled into him since high school, plastering a smile onto his face.  
“Hello, welcome to Hasetsu Bookstore!”

The man sweeps his hair from his face again and Yuuri notes absent-mindedly that his hair looks amazingly soft and silky - Yuuri would really like to know what shampoo he uses, and what his hair smells like, and - wait, what?  
The customer opens his mouth to reply, and Yuuri thinks he sees panic flash across those stunning blue eyes before it disappears. “I-,” he starts and visibly freezes. The man’s face flushes brightly and Yuuri dives in to save him. 

“Were you waiting on those ice-skating books?” Yuuri prompts, silently praying that his memory serves him right.

The customer’s face smooths out, a smile breaking across his face as he nods enthusiastically, and Yuuri wants that expression to never leave his face. 

“Hang on,” Yuuri says as he quickly logs into the computer and checks the stock records.  
He sees an order made yesterday for two learn-to-skate books, and the order is under… Victor Nikiforov. Yes, now he remembers.  
“They’re set to arrive in two or three days, if that’s okay?” Yuuri tells Victor, who’s waiting patiently at the counter, the remnants of a smile on his face. 

“That’s fine,” Victor says, and hesitates. 

“Would you like anything else?”

“Umm… I was just wondering if…”

Yuuri senses his indecision. “I could get your number and call you when the books arrive?” he suggests.

Victor’s face lights up again. “That would be great!”  
He pats his pocket for a pen and looks confused when there’s nothing there, nevermind that Yuuri’s already gotten a blue pen from under the counter as well as a pad of sticky notes.  
Victor writes his number and his name carefully. After he’s done, he straightens, looking around uncertainly. “Um… is it okay if I just look around for a bit?”

“Of course!” Yuuri peels the note off the pad and sticks it to the bottom of the desktop screen. Strange that he came all this way just to check up on his books, Yuuri thinks as he types. He must be really looking forward to learning how to ice skate.

A few moments later he hears the bell on the door ring. He looks up and sees Victor exiting. He stands outside the door for a second, perhaps forgetting that there is a glass window in the door that Yuuri can directly see through, and silently pumps his fist in the air.  
Yuuri can’t help it - he bursts out laughing, closing his eyes and covering his mouth with his hands. He’s too busy wiping the tears from his eyes to see Victor look back, noticing his sudden outburst. With his glasses on and his eyes less teary, Yuuri might have noticed the flush in Victor’s cheeks or the grin spreading across his face before he walked away. 

The next morning he unlocks the door to the shop, yawning. There’s something sticking out of the shelves and in his still-sleepy mind it barely registers. He takes the note from between the shelves and stares at it unseeingly, blinking lazily. It takes a few seconds before the words swim into focus. 

Those true eyes/ Too pure and too honest in aught to disguise/ The sweet soul shining through them.

“Oh,” Yuuri exhales. He knows, without a doubt, that it’s the same person who left that cheesy pick-up line a few days ago. “Oh,” he repeats.  
It’s… a really beautiful poem. He’s speechless. A slight tingle of envy passes through his mind, but it’s quickly replaced by awe. Someone wrote this… for Yuuri? Why?  
A bigger question begs his attention: Who?  
Yuuri tries not to dwell on it. Most likely it’s just someone testing out their poetry skills. After all, it’s not like it has his name on it or anything. He wouldn’t want to presume that just because it was left in his family’s bookstore… that he is the only employee at… and works at full-time… it’s addressed to him.  
Who is he kidding - this note is undeniably for him and now he has to accept the fact that someone...someone out there is writing poems about his eyes. It’s almost ridiculous.  
He tries ignores the fluttering in his chest at the thought. 

\--

“Hey, Victor, how are you?”

“Good, Yakov. Absolutely dandy.” Victor swaps his phone to his other hand as he plugs in his dying laptop.

“Are you sure? Because this is the fastest I’ve seen you write since 2013. And most of it is actually good.” 

“Why do you sound surprised?”

“Wasn’t it just a week ago when you were sobbing and crying to me, begging for an extension? How did you manage to come up with a full storyline and 20k words of solid writing in seven days?” 

“I…,” Victor smiles absentmindedly. “I don’t really know, Yakov.” He shrugs, even though Yakov can’t see him through the phone.  
“Guess I just found some inspiration, you know?”

Yakov grunts in reply. “Well, I don’t really care how you did it. Just keep it up, you hear?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Also, did you mean to keep in those strange sentences?”

“Like what?” Victor’s brows furrow.  
“Like… “His eyes are so pretty omg imagine what it’d look like with slicked back hair”.” Yakov pauses. “It was quite out of place… did you not proofread before you submitted it?”

“Fuck,” Victor mentally slaps himself. “Yakov, just ignore those sentences, please.”  
He laughs weakly.

Victor hears him mutter something like “Never knew Victor’s type was dark-haired boys with glasses,” and “How did he even come up with figure-skating in the first place?” and he turns bright red.  
“Yakov! I don’t have a ‘type’,” he splutters. “How dare… are you saying that I’m writing some sort of self-insert? I would never!” 

“Oh, did I forget to hang up? Sorry, Victor. I wouldn’t put it past you - the protagonist’s love interest seems awfully similar to someone I know...”  
With that, Yakov hangs up amidst Victor’s incoherent protests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the poem is from 'lucille' (1860) by owen meredith!
> 
> also, no offense but victor would definitely write self-inserts


	3. three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's a little bit late! hope you enjoy though!   
> i've decided to split this section into two rather than having one long chapter so this one is quite short, but don't worry, the other part of it is coming soon!

Victor is finally getting back into the groove of writing. After being parched of creativity for so long, it feels refreshing. He tries not to think too much about the source of his inspiration, or why he gets overexcited every time his phone rings, despite every phone call he’s received this past week being from Yakov. In fact, he’s called several times today just to ‘check up’ on Victor.   
He doesn’t even need the books he’s waiting on. Yakov already got him in contact with a professional figure-skating choreographer who was more than happy to help the ‘one and only Matthew Calbraith’.  
He thinks back to the bookstore he’s been to twice in the past 4 days. He thinks of warm lighting and eyes that crinkle at the corners.   
Was the last poem too much? Victor hopes it wasn’t. Although it was pretty tacky, even by Victor’s standards.  
A thought occurs to him - what if Yuuri’s not even single? What if he’s not even into men??  
Victor pauses his typing as his eyes widen.  
Fuck.  
FUck!  
God, Victor is such an idiot. He covers his face with his hands as he groans in despair, resolving to ask as subtly as possible the next time he goes back to the store. If Victor had been leaving those cheesy notes and Yuuri was already spoken for… Victor wants to crawl into a hole and die. 

Suddenly, his phone vibrates on the table. It must be Yakov, he thinks. It’s probably the fourth time he’s called today. He answers without looking at the screen.  
“What is it now?”

“Um, hi there, this is Yuuri from Hasetsu Bookstore…?”

He fumbles with the phone, nearly dropping it.   
“Hi, yes, this is the right person, sorry!”

“Oh…” A small, relieved laugh from the other end. “Well, I was just calling to let you know that we’ve received your books, so you can come in at any time to get them.”

“Oh. Oh! I’ll, uh, be there soon!”

“Wait, you don’t have to come in today if you don’t-”

Victor hangs up, almost running from the room. His laptop is left open, the cursor still blinking where it’s stopped at a half-finished sentence. 

\--

“Hey Victor, thanks for dropping by so soon!” Yuuri grins, handing him a plastic bag.   
Victor smiles back, for the first time aware of the other people browsing the store around him. Victor had almost forgotten that Hasetsu Bookstore was, in fact, a bookstore, and not just a place where he went to pine after the cute staff member and leave sappy notes for said staff member.   
Speaking of which.  
Here goes nothing, Victor thinks, swallowing.   
“So, uh, Yuuri…” He lowers his voice slightly, though the person closest to him seems to be absorbed in reading the back of a horror book. 

“Yes? Did you need more books on-”

“Have you- Have you been in a relationship before?” He blurts, already regretting the words after they've barely left his mouth.

Yuuri’s face twists slightly and his brows furrow as he glances at Victor, who's now clutching the handle of the plastic bag for dear life. Victor can feel his pulse in his ears and his hands are clammy.  
“I, I mean just for… I mean if you had any recommendations! For a… someone who uh… a boyfriend? No, fuck, wait, I meant-,” he says, not at all desperately, because Victor can definitely do subtlety and that was completely subtle. 

“Recommendations? Do you mean a book, or…?”

“Y-Yeah!” Victor wants nothing more than to stab himself - the pen sitting on the desk seems like a good choice of weapon.

“Oh… I mean, I had a partner in college, but we’re not together anymore, so I’m probably not the best person to ask. But I guess I would recommend the ‘Eros & Agape’ series by Christophe Giacometti? Does that help?”

Partner.  
Did he say partner?  
Victor’s brain churns. He said partner, not girlfriend, right?   
And he's single now, right?  
He tries ignores the fact that Yuuri is now looking at him with a small, knowing smile and that his face must rival the colour of a tomato.  
“Oh! Um, yes, thank you, that's just what I was looking for,” Victor says quickly. 

Yuuri raises an eyebrow. “Okay,” he says, dragging out the vowels.

Victor’s going to slap himself when he gets home.   
“Thank you very much!” He rushes away from the counter towards the exit, plastic bag banging against his leg with every hurried step. Yuuri’s curious gaze burns his back as he pushes the door - it doesn’t move. He looks down. It’s a fucking pull door.   
His cheeks flush bright red, again, and he hears Yuuri giggle behind him, and upon turning around he sees Yuuri frantically covering his mouth, eyes still crinkled. 

They stare at each other for what seems like hours, but must have only been a few seconds, before Victor also bursts out laughing. In that moment, it seems like everything fades away except for them. It feels like the beginning of something indescribable. Finally Victor tears his eyes away - his life is really just turning into one big cliché.  
He opens the door successfully and leaves.   
It’s started to rain during the short time he was in the store, and he sees the rain drum against the wood of the bench across the street where he first sat all those days ago.   
Was it really only last week? He thinks to himself, smiling absent-mindedly as walks the few minutes to his apartment, humming. 

Once the door is unlocked, Victor walks into his study and is greeted with the sight of his laptop, the document he had been working on still open. He sits down at the desk and begins to write. And write.   
And write.

That night, he finishes the first draft of his book. It’s about a professional figure skater rediscovering his passion, with the help of a world-champion skater-turned-amateur coach, and a few others. Eventually, they fall in love. 

It’s not the first romance novel he’s written. It’s not even the first gay romance novel he’s written - Matthew Calbraith is known as one of the first bestselling authors to accurately and respectfully include prominent LGBT representation in his books, leading to speculation by critics and fans alike that the author identifies as LGBT. However, Victor has neither confirmed nor denied this, preferring to remain the mysterious figure behind the books, whom his readers know nothing about except his gender and his favourite dog breed - a poodle. 

Victor thinks this book will be different. He wants it to be different. After all, this is the first book he’s written with someone else in mind other than himself.


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy!

Yuuri’s not even surprised a few days later when he sees Victor walk into the store.   
“Back for more ice-skating books?” he says, a slight smile playing at his lips. “Or maybe some… let’s see, relationship-related books, did you say?”

Victor grins sheepishly. “No, I’m just looking around.”

“I’m just kidding,” Yuuri says, sitting back down behind the counter. “Well, let me know if you need anything.”

Something’s changed since the last time they saw each other.   
Well, Yuuri supposes, they’ve only met 3 times, not including the phone call - not that he’s keeping track or anything - but he feels almost comfortable around Victor. Like he’s known him for years, despite not even knowing his last name. Oh wait, wasn’t that on the shipping order?  
Well, the fact remains that Yuuri barely knows Victor. So why does he feel so at ease? He’s not normally prone to opening up to new people - he knows that. And yet, being around Victor, it feels...right.

That night, as he’s locking up, he finds another note. It’s written on the same paper as last time and this time it has - Yuuri flattens the paper a little - a drawing. It’s an, albeit bad, drawing of an open book. Inside the book is a heart and there are sparkles all around the book. Yuuri smiles. 

\--

In this way, Yuuri’s life continues for the next few months.   
He gets notes every so often - his journal has started to become quite bulky. Victor visits the bookshop periodically, and for some reason Yuuri starts to look forward to those visits. He never really realised how alone he was until Victor started being a presence in his life. Ever since Phichit and college, he hasn’t really had any friends. It’s... nice. Victor is easy to talk to and makes him laugh.   
On days when the store is busy, Victor would wander around, running a hand over the shelves until Yuuri thinks that by now, he probably knows the organisation system like the back of his hand.   
On days when the shop is empty, Victor would sit in the chair closest to the counter while Yuuri takes stock, shelves books, or organises book orders. 

Sometimes they would just sit in comfortable silence, and neither feeling the need to fill it with words.   
During this time Yuuri would often bring out his journal, and although he often feels Victor glance at him curiously, he doesn’t press Yuuri about it.   
More often than not, they would talk. Often about the weirdest things.

“Did you know kangaroos have three vaginas? Female ones, that is.” 

Yuuri snorts in surprise. “No, I did not know that, and I’m not sure I want to know that.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure the information will come in useful one day,” Victor says. “If you ever wanted to move to Australia and become a kangaroo breeder.”

“Why, how did you know that was my dream job?”

Victor laughs in response, grin lighting up his whole face and Yuuri has to look away.

It’s on one of those days that the conversation drifts towards favourite books and authors for some reason. Yuuri isn’t the one to bring it up, but he’s surprised they haven’t talked about it earlier. After all, despite his degree in finance, he is a self-proclaimed book nerd. His family owns a bookstore, for God’s sake.

Victor had almost cried with laughter when he found out. “Finance,” he gasped, “you, doing a finance degree?” 

“To be honest, I have no idea what I actually would’ve taken if my father hadn’t suggested it,” Yuuri said.   
That was a lie - he would’ve chosen English. Looking back, it probably wouldn’t have worked out. The few short stories he had written during university had flopped.  
“What did you do in uni?” 

Victor stopped laughing, face turning pensive. “If I had gone in the first place, I probably would’ve majored in English.” 

Yuuri’s jaw dropped.   
“You mean you haven’t got a degree?” he blurted out without thinking. “A-ah, not to say that it’s bad or anything, I just thought…”

Victor waved him off. “It’s fine, the thought just didn’t occur to me.”   
Seeing Yuuri’s face, he continued. “Well, It’s not like my parents minded or anything… I mean, uh.”

“Speaking of which, what do you actually do, Victor?”

At that, Victor laughed again, though it sounded hollow. “Nothing much,” he said, face turned away. 

Yuuri didn’t ask further - the good thing about their friendship was that neither of them pushed the other for things they didn’t want to share. 

\---

Yuuri’s not sure why Victor asks about his favourite author out of the blue.  
“Haven’t I told you already? I feel like I talk about it all the time,” Yuuri says.

“No, not yet.”

“Really? Oh, well I’ll tell you now,” says Yuuri. “It’s Matthew Calbraith. Have you read any of his books?”

At Victor’s silence, he pauses sorting under the counter and looks over to where Victor is sitting in his usual chair - it’s been dubbed ‘Victor’s throne’. There’s a strange expression on his face - confusion? Amusement? Surprise? A strange mixture of all three, it seems.  
Yuuri ducks his head a little. “Sorry, you probably haven’t heard of him-”

“No, no, I have!” Victor interrupts quickly. His smile looks slightly strained, but his eyes sparkle. 

“Well, his writing style is really elegant and I really love his books a lot,” says Yuuri, flushing. “Do you like his books?”

Victor laughs a little. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I do. I read them all the time.”

Yuuri brightens. “What’s your favourite?”

“I…” He pauses, deep in thought. “I couldn’t say which one I like best.”

“Yeah, they’re all really good, aren’t they? I like ‘The Lilac Fairy’ best though.” Yuuri finishes organizing the notebooks under the counter. Victor’s gazing at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I don’t know, for some reason I just really enjoy reading his books. His characters are amazing - they’re so well rounded, you know?” Yuuri shrugs, a small smile on his face. “I’ve been a huge fan of him since his first book. I wonder when his next one will be out?”

“Oh, pretty soon, I should think.” 

“Really? That’s good to hear. It’s sad that he doesn’t do book signings or anything, though. I mean, we don’t even know what he looks like, do we?” He laughs a little to himself, Victor grinning at him. 

“What about you, Victor?”

“Ah… I don’t really have one. I don't have much time to read, these days.”

Yuuri frowned. “You know you're welcome to read anything in here, right? As long as you don’t destroy the book or anything.”

Victor shrugs. “Well, there was this short story writer a few years ago I really liked. But I don't think they write anymore.”

“I see,” says Yuuri. He places a hand over his journal under the counter subconsciously. Victor’s eyes track the motion. 

“What’s that you’ve got there?” he asks. His tone is lighthearted - Yuuri looks at his face and sees the gentleness in his eyes. Victor’s giving him an opt-out, giving him the choice to brush it off or turn it into a joke if he doesn’t want to answer.

Yuuri wants to be honest with Victor, for some reason. He doesn’t feel afraid.  
“It’s… a place where I write,” he says softly. Victor doesn’t say anything, so he continues. “I-I don’t know, I just… I just put my thoughts in here, and things.”

Victor nods. The atmosphere has changed, become subdued and slightly somber. “I would love to see what’s in it sometime,” he says sincerely. 

“Maybe,” replies Yuuri, shyly. Victor smiles at him, and Yuuri feels something flutter in his stomach. 

\-- 

Victor finishes writing his final draft about 3 months after the day he first meets Yuuri - the fastest he’s ever written a book. Although Yakov is sceptical at first, he grudgingly admits that it is also one of hjjhg’s best-written books. He tells Victor that it’s the first time he’s really felt the emotions of the author woven into the lines. Victor smiles and dismisses the compliment, but he can’t help but blush when Yakov says the confessions are especially heart-warming. 

Yuuri continues to work at the bookstore, which Victor frequently visits. The notes appear less and less often, and while they still make him smile, he no longer feels the fluttering in his stomach whenever he sees a piece of paper sticking out of the shelves.   
Instead, he feels it when he hears the doorbell ring and catches a glimpse of soft silver hair.   
He feels it when he sees Victor smile or laugh, but he is content to simply bask in the warm presence of his friend rather than try to take it any further - after all, he’s happy with being friends, and even if Victor likes to flirt with him sometimes, it’s just his personality. Yuuri’s more happy than he’s been in months.  
And, well, even if sometimes he thinks about what holding hands with Victor would feel like, and kissing him, and wearing his clothes and being surrounded by Victor’s familiar scent - more than sometimes, if he’s being honest with himself - well, Yuuri’s happy with being just friends. At least he tries to tell himself.


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh we're finally at the end! thank you all the kudos and comments!!  
> once again, please do check out [ kayqin's companion art](http://kayqin.tumblr.com/post/162210597123/) !! it's really so sweet and lovely and it was super fun working with her!  
> (ps. Matthew Calbraith is a character that Victor's VA also played haha)

Victor enters the store at precisely 7am, the now-familiar bell greeting him like an old friend. There’s no one in the store, so he peeks behind the counter through the open door at the back. Sure enough, Yuuri’s there, trying to balance three boxes of books at once.  
His books, Victor has to remind himself.  
“Hey Yuuri, need some help?”

Yuuri looks up, glasses crooked. “Oh, Victor! You’re here early, aren’t you? It’s alright, I’ve got th-” He stands up and one of the precariously balanced boxes promptly drops onto the floor with a thud. “-this,” he finishes. 

Victor picks it up and Yuuri smiles at him gratefully.

As they’re setting up the display stand, Victor asks him what he originally came to do.  
“So, have you had a chance to read it yet?”

Yuuri brushes his hair back with his finger. “No, I only got it this morning and I haven’t had the time,” he replies. “I’m going to read it once the rush of customers slows down.

Not even five minutes later, the first customer of the day arrives, breathless and hair ruffled. “Have you got Matthew Calbraith's new book?” she asks, panting. She’s wearing a school uniform and looks to be about 15. Victor’s pleasantly surprised at her age and her dedication to getting Matthew Calbraith - his book so soon.

“Yep, we’ve got it right here! Are you excited to read it?” Yuuri asks, smiling. 

“Of course! I’ve been itching to read it ever since he announced he was writing a new book!”  
Victor wonders how she would react if she knew that the very author of that book she was so excited about was standing not two meters away from her, watching her purchase it. 

“I’m a figure skater, you know,” she tells Yuuri conversationally as he places the book in a plastic bag marked with the bookstore’s logo. 

“Oh?”

“Yeah! I’m really glad to hear that apparently Matthew Calbraith got all the details right. He must’ve done his research.” 

“Glad to hear that. I haven’t had a chance to read it myself yet, but I’m sure he spent a long time making sure it was accurate,” says Yuuri. 

The rest of the transaction passes in a blur. The student waves to Victor as she positively skips out of the store. He doesn’t have to wait long before the next customer arrives, and the next, and the next, until there’s a sizeable line at the counter, all holding a copy of Victor’s book.  
Of course, he has always known he was popular - the figures prove it, after all - but he’s never really seen it in real life. No one knows what he looks like so it’s not like he gets random people coming up to him like he knows happens to a lot of other famous authors. And he’s never done a book signing, so having physical proof that people enjoy his books is - well, quite frankly, it’s unbelievably incredible. Victor can only imagine what it might look like in bigger bookstores.

In what seems like hours, the first rush of customers is gone and Victor feels like he’s lost all his hair from how tense he’s been. Yuuri slumps back in his seat as he adjusts his glasses, sighing heavily. He brings out a copy of the book and looks at the cover contentedly.  
“I’m gonna read it now so… don’t disturb me until the next customer, ‘kay?” 

Victor nods in reply, eyes fixed on Yuuri’s face as he opens to the first page. It seems like time slows down as Victor watches Yuuri read the dedications. First comes confusion - Yuuri’s eyebrows furrow ever so slightly and his lips turn down as his eyes flicker over what is written on the page. His lips move silently, forming unspoken words. Almost as if he’s in a daze, Yuuri reaches under the counter with his eyes still glued to the page and brings out his now familiar journal. He opens it and takes out a slip of paper - one that Victor recognises. 

Yuuri stares at the note, then at the dedications page - back and forth, back and forth. 

Victor swallows. 

Finally, Yuuri looks up. He’s slack-jawed in surprise.  
“Victor...” 

“W-what is it, Yuuri?” he forces out.

“Why do I have a note that matches the dedications?”  
Misinterpreting Victor’s silence, he continues hurriedly.  
“That is, I’ve been receiving notes from a secret admirer for the past several months.” Yuuri flushes, but persists. “The last one I got - it sounds crazy, but on the dedications page there’s the second stanza of a poem he wrote, and I think… I think I got the first one.”  
He shows him the note, though it’s not necessary. 

Victor stares at the dedications page.

“It-It’s not just coincidence, is it? I wonder…” Yuuri muses.

“Hey, Yuuri,” Victor says, voice soft and eyes cast down. “I have something for you.”  
Before he changes his mind, he thrusts his hand out. Clutched in his fingers is a small note folded in half.

Yuuri looks at the note with wide eyes. On the front, facing upwards, is Yuuri’s name written in Victor’s handwriting.  
A handwriting that Victor knows is familiar to Yuuri. He swallows again, throat dry, and stares at his feet determinedly.  
He thinks that he can almost hear the gears turning in Yuuri’s mind, the instant that it clicks.

Yuuri looks up, face blank. 

“Surprise?” Victor offers weakly.  
He finally meets Yuuri’s eyes, and is startled to see them shiny with tears. 

“Victor, I… I don’t know what to say.”

Victor holds his breath, feeling his stomach plunge. “Fuck, I’ll just-”

“No, don’t leave.” 

VIctor looks up and realises that Yuuri’s smiling - beaming, in fact. He feels like he’s floating.  
“Yuuri…?”

“Victor, I…,” he pauses. “I should’ve known it was you from the start! God, that first pick-up line was a dead giveaway.”

Victor breaks into a smile as he meets Yuuri’s eyes, sparkling with mirth.  
“And.. .and you don’t mind that I’m, well, Matthew Calbraith?”

Yuuri’s face drains of colour.  
“Fuck,” he whispers.

“What?” Victor asks, alarmed. 

“I-I’ve gushed about his books so much in front of you,” Yuuri says, mortified. “Oh, God, this is so embarrassing.”  
He covers his red face with his hands.

Victor brushes his fingers along Yuuri’s wrist. “It’s alright. You know I don’t care.” He pauses. “Although I distinctly remember you saying something along the lines of ‘I would willingly be hit by a bus if it meant I could meet Matthew Calbraith.”

Yuuri groans in response and Victor laughs. 

As the laugh dies down, the store is filled with a comfortable silence. Victor and Yuuri openly stare at each other, and finally, Victor breaks the quiet.  
“Yuuri, I-I haven’t said it yet, but I really, really like you and I want to become more than friends!” Victor says in one breath. 

Yuuri breaks into another breathtaking smile. “Me too, Victor.”

\--

Epilogue

Yuuri and Victor date for a couple years before Yuuri proposes, with a note tucked into the book that Victor was reading, reminiscent of Victor’s secret admirer notes (which Yuuri still sometimes teases him about). They get married in the spring, a quiet affair with only a few people invited. Yakov cries.  
Victor continues to write, although at a much slower pace. Yuuri’s debut novel, a book of poems written anonymously, is an instant best-seller and actually sells more copies than Victor’s debut book. In their apartment, the biggest room is the study in which they have adjacent desks. Yuuri complains incessantly about Victor’s typing, preferring to write on paper, but he blatantly refuses every time Victor offers to move or to convert another room into a separate study. They adopt a poodle, and then a second.  
Yuuri’s father hires new workers for Hasetsu bookstore, but they still visit regularly. Sometimes they secretly sign their own books and put them back on the shelves, for a lucky buyer. The bench opposite the store is a place where they often sit, basking in the sun. They are happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed! it was really fun writing this <3

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!  
> the next chapter will be posted in 3 days!


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